Caramel Craze

I never thought I could see something with my eyes that would be too much for me to take in. The river running through the mountain ahead of me is hushed by the distance between us. Beyond the river, the Himalayan mountains rise high into the heavens leaving only a small amount of sky left. The sides of the mountains are terraced for farming, like giant staircases climbing the face of the mountain. The landscape almost hurt my eyes it’s so beautiful, so breathtaking.

While I struggle to take in the beauty around me, my heart and mind can’t comprehend the dark reality of what plagues this village: sex trafficking. This village is part of a terrible statistic, one that shows 13,000 to 18,000 women being trafficked from Nepal each year.

We learned this area provided 60-70% of those women.

Out of the 30+ villages that make up this small region here in Nepal, only 10-15 teenage girls are left.

The traffickers come from far away in groups of one or two. They dress nice, obviously wealthy.

The traffickers make friends with a family, building trust. They tell them they can find work for their daughters in the city and the daughters can send money back to the village. The family is unaware of what is actually going on.

The traffickers target needy, uninformed families. Recently the government has come to the villages to teach people how to tell the difference between a traveler and a trafficker. Due to their distance from the main roads, some villages still don’t know.

The reason we were at the village was twofold: to help build a women’s center and to help educate the children. We helped expand their school to include a fourth grade classroom. Their current education ends at third grade. 75% of trafficking victims are illiterate. We believe that education can keep these girls safe.

I have hope for the women, though. As the families are learning the truth about where their daughters are going, many are trying to rescue them. I’m happy to say that the village we went to has recently rescued thirteen girls!